Rhinebeck 2010

Countdown....Rhinebeck 2010 is this coming weekend. A few of the boxes that are packed with yarns....





all in natural dyed hues with yarn from the flock! Looking forward to the show! Please stop and say hello!

The Blues ~ For students not for me!

Recovery is treacherous, cruel and oh, so boring! Here is my existence to some degree. I mean from here I travel on crutches to the bathroom, the bedroom and the kitchen. I have a spot in the kitchen at the island where I can elevate the foot and at least converse with Jack during meals.

Yesterday, my friend, Betsy came by and brought some lunch from the Putney Coop (yum!) and we sat on the porch for a visit. Now I haven't been to the porch since surgery as it's been too hot and this foot wants to swell at the first opportunity. So when I'd had enough I got up on the crutches and headed back to the living room and did a skid on a throw rug. I didn't fall down but did hurl forward onto the ball of my healing foot. Oh boy, did that feel great! I hit the icepacks and made an appointment with the doc for today just to be sure something hadn't gone awry. It felt odd but may just be a bit of aggravation. Today the doctor unwrapped the bandages and noted I had minimally caused some bleeding but all in all I am okay. She wrapped me up with the next appointment for 9 more days if I don't do something silly!
So what was a breeze on day one has become a bit of a trial, but I will survive it! I am just so not a couch potato and the hard part is staying down. A true test of MY patience!

Backing up a few weeks, I taught Basics in Natural Dyeing, here at the farm to a great group of students on June 12th working through the steps to become a successful dyer using Earthues natural dyes. I was full of enthusiasm after returning from France. After a brief lecture we jumped into dyeing two colors from one dyepot. I set up the day so each student would go home with 8 dye formulations with yarn samples to build from for their own personal work.

It was a rainy day but it didn't dampen our spirits.
As we rolled along through the dyeing schedule students watched the yarns to be sure the skeins took the dyes evenly.

Sidney couldn't help himself....he just loves a room full of people and happy sounds. Puts him right to sleep!
The skeins get sorted for each student at the end of the day.
And yes, I asked for a group photo! After just a day together relationships form as we share a common interest.
The following day, June 13th, I taught Unravel The Magic and Mystery of Indigo. Each student came with a drive to learn the indigo process and also various areas or interest. Margo brought a number of pieces she had prepared in the shibori fashion where others brought raw fleece, roving and yarns.
I love to teach indigo and I prefer students bring their own fibers because once they connect with the process, applying the range of blues to their own work is the kiss of success! Here are some fibers oxidizing between dips.
Helen is building her layers of indigo to some beautiful yarns she spun. Indigo dyeing works on the concept of building the blue through multiple dips until the prefered blue hue is acheived.

If you have yearned to get started with natural dyes consider joining me and Michele Wipplinger for one of the workshops coming up in August and September which you can review here.

Greasy winner!

Beverly wins! And you were all so close. I am impressed.
The actual weight of the sheep coat in full grease was 28 oz. Beverly came closest at 29 ounces. Congratulations! More fun and games to follow.

I just returned Saturday night from a week in Seattle working with Earthues and a small group of natural dyers on some interesting projects. Our group was diverse and incredibly talented and I was honored to be amongst them. We made our own handpainted silk ribbon yarns...


and worked through some basic but stunning dyes on two yummy substrates, did some handpainting on shibori scarves, did overdyeing with woad and spent considerable time on current trend colors and their relationships on fabric and yarn.

As always the Pacific Northwest holds a special beauty and this was one such evening on Puget Sound.

Thank you all for your thoughts on the loss of David Hinman, our sheep shearer and friend. I received the news from Jack while I was in Seattle and I was quite set aback while so far away. Our community is small here and such a loss is profound and personal. Jack was able to attend the memorial service atop a hill on David's land in Acworth. 100's attended and it was a fitting farewell to a both unique and authentic man.

Join us for a workshop?

Workshops for the 2010 season at Long Ridge Farm are open! Three day workshops with Michele Wipplinger are featured for August. The first is Basilan: Earth Pigments and Infusions from Mali, Africa. The second is Woad: The Ancient European Blue.

Michele Wipplinger

Patty Blomgren and I will be teaching a series of one day workshops throughout the year focusing on working with fiber and natural dyeing

Patty sharing her expertise with me about my yarn order

Patty Blomgren has been a spinner, weaver and fiber artist for over 25 years. She has taught spinning and weaving at Ewe and Me in Northfield, Massachusetts and currently teaches at Margie’s Muse, Jamaica, Vermont, Maybelle Farm in Wardsboro, Vermont and is in her 13th year teaching spinning at The Putney School, Putney, Vermont as well as numerous spinning classes in the Southern Vermont area. Patty also is a spinning/fleece contest judge for the annual Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival.
For the past 5 years Patty was the master spinner at the Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, Vermont where her knowledge of handspinning translated to working the Spinnery’s 1948 ~ 96 bobbin spinning frame. Patty graduated in 2001 from Mount Holyoke College with a major in Women’s Studies and a minor in Art. Her final project in Women’s Studies brought her back to her passions of the fiber arts when she was curate for a weaving exhibit at Artspace Community Art Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Teaching people to spin is Patty’s favorite obsession!

Patty Blomgren

Nancy Zeller ~ Photo courtesy of Marti Stone Photography

Nancy Zeller of Long Ridge Farm is celebrating ten years of raising sheep and particularly the most rare and endangered CVM/Romeldale. Long Ridge Farm has won numerous prize ribbons for raw fleeces, is recognized nationally for their involvement with CVM/Romeldales and continues to produce breeding stock lambs from their flock of CVM/Romeldale sheep. Nancy received a BA in Art from UNH at Keene, NH and has been immersed in natural dyeing since 2005, working side by side with Earthues of Seattle, WA. She teaches by request throughout the Northeast. Nancy does custom dye work for Green Mountain Spinnery as well as individual requests. You can visit her at fiber shows throughout the year around New England and also by visiting her studio at Long Ridge Farm.

Learn to spin, learn to dye with indigo, learn how to buy the best fleece, learn to use combs and carders properly and more.... won't you join us this year?